


The Missing Practice Partner

by pilvenpiirtaja



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, akaashi plays the violin, fukuroudani regulars make appearances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-23 12:29:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6116515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pilvenpiirtaja/pseuds/pilvenpiirtaja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bokuto is worried he has done something to upset Akaashi as the setter hasn't bailed on him  With the help of his fellow third-years he figures out the situation. In the end, Bokuto really should just pay more attention to things happening around him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Missing Practice Partner

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at Haikyuu!!-fics, I hope you enjoy the end result.

** The Missing Practice Partner **

 

Bokuto threw his ball in his hands a few times before making a serve. He frowned as it bounced from the floor at the opposite end of the court, the serve had gone a little wide. He looked at the clock, it was getting late. He realized he should probably start clearing out the gym. He went on to gather the balls that now littered the floor, tossing them to the basket awaiting at the edge of the court.

“Hey Akaa-“, he started before remembering the second-year hadn’t joined him for extra practice that night. It was for the third day in a row, Bokuto realized, when Akaashi had bailed on him when he had wanted to stay for some extra spiking practice after finishing the official training was over. It had forced Bokuto to focus on his serving rather than spiking, since he couldn’t do the latter on his own.

Usually Akaashi would roll his eyes and make a retort but stay to help out anyway, partly to make sure that Bokuto didn’t stay all night – it had only happened once, Bokuto swore, he had simply nodded off while gathering the balls and before he knew it, it was morning. Bokuto was sure Akaashi even enjoyed their late night practices even though the younger didn’t show it.

What puzzled Bokuto even more about Akaashi’s sudden reluctance to join him was the timing. The Tokyo representative matches were only a few weeks away, didn’t Akaashi realize they had to be in their best form to qualify for the Spring Tournament? How could he lead his team to victory against Nekoma and the other schools if he didn’t get enough practice? He had to make sure he had the perfect control over his crosses and straights and he couldn’t do that without his precious setter.

After he threw the last ball in, Bokuto pushed the ball basket back to the storage room and finished his clean-up. He made sure the gym was ready for their morning practice and nodded, happy with the results. He then gathered his belongings and locked the gym doors and headed home for the night.

 

**xxx**

 

As he walked through the dark, empty schoolyard, he let his thoughts wander. He tried to figure out if he had done something to upset his setter, but couldn’t think of anything out of the ordinary. He had appeared to his kouhai’s classroom during lunch the previous Tuesday with a bit more enthusiasm than usually. He ended up running straight into his friend’s desk, causing the younger one to spill his lunch all over the table and some of it had even ended up on the floor. Akaashi couldn’t still be mad about that, could he?

Now that he thought of it, Tuesday was the first night Akaashi hadn’t joined him for their usual extra practice. They hadn’t eaten lunch together after the incident either, but Bokuto had thought Akaashi just wanted to protect his food from another similar incident, especially since the younger boy becomes very grumpy when he’s hungry, which he wouldn’t want to interfere with the team’s practices. A grumpy Akaashi was no fun to play with, Bokuto thought, and allowed his kouhai his peace during lunch the following days.

As he passed through the school-gates, Bokuto shrugged. Akaashi wasn’t so petty that he would miss practice because of the lunch-incident, Bokuto was sure of it, he had apologized and even offered to share half of his own lunch with him. There had to be another explanation for Akaashi’s strange behavior, he just needed to figure out what it was.

 

**xxx**

 

Bokuto was deep in his thoughts. He wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings. He didn’t realize somebody else was walking in front of him before he bumped right into their back, causing the other to fall. 

“Oh my god I’m so sorry please forgive me!” He bowed deep, his voice frantic with concern.

“Are you okay, did you get hurt?” he asked without daring to look up from his feet.

“Bokuto-san, you should really pay more attention to where you’re going” the boy on the

ground grumbled.

“Aaah, I’m so sorry – wait, is that you, Akaashi?” he straightened his back as he recognized the voice.

“Yes” came the cool reply. “Would you mind helping me up?” 

“Of course, I’m sorry!” Bokuto offered his hand, which the second-year accepted gratefully. Bokuto proceeded to pull his friend up.

 

While the younger boy was busy dusting his clothes, Bokuto picked the bags his friend had dropped, now scattered across the pavement. There were three of them, his regular school- and gym-bags, but the third Bokuto didn’t recognize. It was a long, hard case covered in a black leather finishing.  

 

“You have a lot of stuff with you, you want me to help you carry it home?” Bokuto asked as he offered them back to his friend.

“No need, Bokuto-san, I’m sure I can manage” Akaashi replied as he took back his belongings.

 

Bokuto fidgeted as Akaashi inspected the case in silence. It obviously held something important as Akaashi took his time making sure it was still intact. Bokuto couldn’t stand the thought that he might have inadvertently broken something his friend valued.

 

“I’m really sorry, Akaashi, I didn’t meant to walk into you again” he started as the silence, his mood plummeting. “I’m so sorry, I’m so useless, first I spilled your food and now I ran into you again, I’m sorry Akaashi, please don’t be mad.”

“Please stop apologizing, Bokuto-san”, Akaashi sighed. He could see his friend nearing his emo-mode, he really didn’t have the energy to deal with it so late at night.

Bokuto looked up with wide eyes.

“Everything is fine, you didn’t break anything, and I accept your apology” Akaashi continued. “If I got mad every time you ran into me I would be angry with you all the time” a small smile tugged the corners of his mouth.

With that, a wide smirk spread on Bokuto’s face.

“I suppose you’re right. I really should watch where I’m going more.”

“But Akaashi, what were you doing at school so late?” Bokuto asked, realizing the oddness the late hour of their encounter.

“You weren’t practicing without me, were you?” Worry crossed Bokuto’s features.

 

“Oh, me?” Bokuto could see Akaashi get flustered at the question. Akaashi averted his eyes, looking anywhere but at Bokuto.

“No, I wasn’t practicing volleyball. I, ehm, had a thing to take care of, it’s nothing you need to worry about”, the younger boy replied.

“Anyway, I really should get going, it’s getting late and I have to go home. See you tomorrow at practice, Bokuto-san.” 

With that, Akaashi took off, leaving Bokuto perplexed. Something was up, but he didn’t know what it was. What had caused the usually very composed Akaashi to flee like that, was it something Bokuto had said?

Bokuto let out a long sigh. He had to figure out what he had done to upset his friend, but it would have to wait for the morning. It wouldn’t do any good to run after Akaashi now, especially since they lived at opposite directions, the whole ordeal would likely take some time, and neither of them would do any good with a sleepless night.

Bokuto took one last look to the direction the setter had disappeared. Then he turned his back and slowly headed home.

 

**xxx**

 

The morning practice the following day only convinced Bokuto further he had done something terrible to Akaashi. The second-year was zoning out more than usually, he almost got hit in the face by wayward balls more times than Bokuto could count. The setter wasn’t exactly a morning person, Bokuto knew the setter didn’t function well before nine, but as he shouted his warning for Akaashi just in time for the younger to dive from under Sarukui’s spike yet again to avoid bruising his face, Bokuto’s worry grew. If he was the reason Akaashi was acting so unlike himself, he had to do something to make it right quickly, preferably before his setter took a ball in the head.

 

“Let’s finish up practice now”, the captain decided, giving out orders to clear out the gym.

“Sounds good, we don’t want end up maiming our sleepy setter, do we?” Komi shouted as Konoha snickered beside him.

 

Their laughter didn’t last long as Akaashi shot his death-glare to their direction.

 

“I stayed up later than usual last night, I’m sorry to cause so much trouble this morning”, he then retorted with a yawn, picking up a ball at his feet.

“Don’t worry about it, Akaashi, it’s the senpai’s job to look after their tired kouhai and make sure they don’t injure themselves”, Komi teased, followed by a quick side-step to avoid the ball now flying to his direction.

 

**xxx**

 

Bokuto kept thinking about his recent conversations with Akaashi the whole day. The second-year had quickly excused himself after the cleanup without saying much else to his captain.

By the end of his last lesson he had gotten himself so worked up over the matter he had triggered his emo-mode.

It didn’t help that his teachers kept scolding him for not paying attention in class, but he simply couldn’t bring himself to listen. He could see his homeroom teacher going on about the upcoming culture festival, but his brains didn’t register any of the words. He had more important things to worry about, such as being a horrible friend and causing his kouhai to literally flee the night before.

 

**xxx**

 

The evening practice ended up being a disaster.

Bokuto couldn’t get a single spike through during the whole session.

Akaashi hadn’t come to practice at all.

Their backup setter was good enough, but Bokuto was too far gone to work with him. Their futile attempts of coordinating with one another had soon ended when the coach decided Bokuto would be better of serving rather than spiking, but as most of his serves had violently swerved aside, Bokuto had soon given up completely and just sat on the sidelines.

At some point he found out Akaashi had notified the coach of his absence, and the coach had given him his blessing.

Bokuto was fairly certain the coach had even explained the reason to the rest of the team, who seemed content enough with the explanation they received. His brain was going on overdrive as he kept thinking what had he done to the setter to cause his teammates to consider his actions an adequate reason to miss practice. The list of reasons Bokuto had come up with during the day didn’t seem severe enough for his team to accept an absence so close to the representative matches, which caused Bokuto to sink even further. What had he done?

 

**xxx**

 

The rest of the team watched as their ace slowly sank deeper and deeper in his self-pity at the sidelines. They shared one concerned look, realizing the severity of the situation. They had to do something to drag the ace out of his misery, but the one most skilled dealing with Bokuto’s slumps wasn’t present. Their eyes turned to the most responsible one, who accepted his faith with a sigh, making his way to the ace.

 

“Bokuto?” Sarukui’s voice pierced through his self-pity. 

As the ace lifted his glassy gaze, Sarukui froze. He hadn’t thought this through, he had no idea what to do now that he had Bokuto’s attention. He steeled himself and just started talking.

“What’s going on? You haven’t come to practice in your emo-mode in a long time, did something happen?”

“I’m a horrible captain and a terrible friend, that’s what happened!” Bokuto sniffled. Tears were now welling up in his eyes and his lip started to tremble.

“What do you mean?”

“Aka- Akaashi hates me” Bokuto was full-out wailing now. “He has stopped coming to practice because of what I did and you all think it’s okay! He’s probably going to quit the team and then we’ll lose our official setter and I can’t fix it and this is all my fault--”

 

Sarukui was lost. He turned to look at his teammates, all of whom were now standing very still, watching the scene unravelling in front of their eyes, unable to avert their eyes.

 

“--Last- last night I ran into him again, I just keep literally running into him all the time, and he probably hates me for that and for spilling his food and for startling him so often and I’m so loud and annoying and and-”

“Bokuto, stop”, Sarukui cut the captain off. Before he could start again, Sarukui continued with a stern voice.

“Akaashi doesn’t hate you. Yes, you can be a bit much sometimes, but he could never hate you.”

“Are you sure?” Bokuto’s eyes were huge.

“Yes. Why would you even think that?” Sarukui sounded slightly concerned, had the setter done something to make the captain think that?

“He- he hasn’t stayed for extra practice with me this week. And I spilled his lunch the other day, you know how mad he gets when somebody messes with his food” Bokuto recounted.

“And how many times have you spilled his lunch before?”

 

This caught Bokuto’s attention. He had done it in the past a few times. It always earned him a glare and an exasperated sigh. It was as if Akaashi simply accepted his faith, even though he usually was a bit grumpier for the rest of the day.

 

“.. A few times?” Bokuto replied with a small voice.

“And does he hate you because of those times?”

“I… I suppose not?”

“Exactly.” 

“But why wouldn’t he practice with me? The representative matches are just around the corner!”

Then a thought dawned to Bokuto, and he went to frantics.

“Akaashi is not injured is he? He hasn’t overworked himself because he’s been helping me to practice, has he?!”

“Don’t worry, Bokuto, he’s alright, he’s not injured or, well he is a bit overworked with school, you know how he is, but it has nothing to do with volleyball” Sarukui tried to calm the captain down.

“How do you know that, he’s not here, he could be dead for all we know!”

 

Sarukui sent pleading looks to his teammates, begging for aid. This was getting out of hand.

 

“Bokuto, that’s enough. Akaashi is fine!” Washio offered with a stern look. Soon the rest of the third-years followed the suit.

“O- okay”, Bokuto gave one last sniff.

“You don’t sound convinced”, Sarukui pointed out.

“Yeah… Well... “ Bokuto attempted a smile but failed miserably.  

“But if Akaashi doesn’t hate me or isn’t injured, why isn’t he here?”

“You didn’t listen to the coach at all at the beginning of the practice?”

“N.. no”

“One captain you are” Konoha muttered under his breath, letting out a small squeak as Komi elbowed him, the last thing Bokuto needed now was them judging his captaining abilities.

Luckily, Sarukui’s explanation washed over the noise.

“Well, if you had listened to him, you would know that Akaashi requested this night free to prepare for their class’ performance at tomorrow’s cultural festival. Apparently, he has an important part in it so he hasn’t had time for extra practises.”

“Cultural festival? It’s tomorrow?!” Bokuto exclaimed as his quite a few of his teammates groaned, pressing their faces in their hands.

“You.. forgot the festival?”  
  


Bokuto had the decency to look sheepish.  
  


“Well, I’m not in charge of anything this year, a lot of people volunteered for our stands so I didn’t really pay that much attention to it”, he explained.

“I don’t think my classmates trust me anywhere near the cooking after last year’s fiasco.”

“That’s probably a good idea”, Sarukui smirked. He had been one of the unlucky ones to taste Bokuto’s creations the previous year, which hadn’t, there was no nicer way to put it, been edible.

“I suppose I’m just overreacting”, Bokuto groaned. “I just started overthinking everything and I know I can sometimes be annoying and Akaashi probably doesn’t want to be a friend with someone like me.”

“That’s nonsense!” All the third-years exclaimed.

“I mean the kid’s facial expression doesn’t vary much but if he didn’t want to be your friend he wouldn’t let you drag him into all of your shenanigans”, Konoha continued.

“He’s just busy with the their class’ project. The others have been practicing it a lot during the past few weeks, and now that the festival is coming near they need Akaashi to be there with them to make sure it all works out the way they want,” Sarukui reassured the captain.

“I’m sure he’ll be right back practicing with you next week.”

“... You’re probably right”, Bokuto decided, a smile creeping on his face. “What are they practicing, anyway?”

“I think it’s some sort of a play, I don’t know for sure”, one of the team’s second-years standing further away, offered.

“They are doing it together with the drama club. I heard some of Akaashi’s classmates talk about it, though they want to keep the details secret.”

“A secret play?” Now the smile was unnaturally wide. “They’re practicing it at the school, right? Probably in the auditorium the drama club usually uses?”

“Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like this?” Sarukui groaned.

“We should go watch them practice. They need to perform to a smaller audience before the premiere, right?” Bokuto was already heading for the door.

“Besides, I need to apologize for my behaviour.”  
 

The other third-years had no choice but to comply, they couldn’t let Bokuto fresh out of his emo-mode free upon a class full of unsuspecting drama club and a bunch of second-years.  
 

“Would you guys mind clearing all the stuff while we’re gone? This might take a while. We’ll make sure everything is fine and lock up when we get back”, Sarukui sent the plea to their first- and second-years, and after he received a chorus of “Yes” as an answer, he rushed after his friends.

 

**xxx**

 

Soon they reached the auditorium. Luckily the lights were dimmed as they snuck in through one of the back doors, hoping to go unnoticed by the students buzzing down by the stage. There were a lot of people present, Bokuto recognized at least some of Akaashi’s classmates present. He didn’t see the setter, though.

“I think we’re in the right place”, he whispered to his friends when they settled in a empty row near the back of the room.

“Yeah. It looks like they’re about to start a dress rehearsal. We need to be stay quiet so they won’t notice us,” Sarukui reminded the others. It wouldn’t do much good for them to get caught sneaking in to see a secret play, but if it meant putting Bokuto’s worries to rest once and for all, it was worth the risk.

“Let’s begin in one!” Somebody commanded, causing the people on the stage to rush to their positions. “Action!”

 

**xxx**

 

The play turned out to be a musical. Bokuto was certain it was one of the western fairy tales, he thought he had heard the story before, but he couldn’t remember which one it was. He was fairly certain the story had been mellowed down a bit from the original story. He was mesmerized by the performers dressed in huge costumes, especially by one of the girls who managed to dance around without tripping to her long golden hair.

Bokuto tried to spot Akaashi on stage but failed miserably. Maybe they were in the wrong place after all, maybe they had been wrong and the setter wasn’t here.

Just as he was about to voice his concern to his friends, a violinist stepped on the stage. As the actors released a lantern in the air, the violinist started a soft tune that fit the emotional scene perfectly.

Too soon the song ended, and the violinist returned to the shadows. Throughout the play he made a few more appearances, the most striking being near the end. As Bokuto watched the prince of the story sacrifice himself to save the princes, the violinist appeared again. The sad, soft tune soon turned to a joyful one as the prince was magically saved, but Bokutos attention had shifted from the actors to the violinist. He couldn’t believe his eyes - or his ears for that matter, he had finally found the boy he was looking for.

He turned to his friends and as their eyes met, he knew they had recognized the violinist too.

They sat still until the very end of the play, having forgotten they weren’t supposed to be there. When the curtain was closed, they stood up for a standing ovation.

They hadn’t thought it through, as all the heads below them turned to them at the sound.

 

**xxx**

 

“You- you aren’t supposed to be here! What are you doing here? What class are you from?” a strict-looking middle-aged woman snapped. She was clearly the teacher in charge of the group. She was fuming, making the volleyball team cower. Bokuto took a deep breath and stood tall.

“I apologized for the intrusion. I’m Bokuto Koutaro from class 3-1. We were looking for a friend of mine, and we heard he might be here” Bokuto explained with an apologetic smile. It was usually enough to get him out of trouble when he first met people, even though the trick usually lost its magic after they got to know him a bit better.

“And the rest of you?”

“They are only here to make sure I don’t cause any trouble. I take full responsibility for our actions.”    
  


The teacher’s face softened just a bit.  
“It would appear you all still ended up causing trouble despite your friends’ presence.”

“I suppose we did”, Bokuto snickered before sobering again. “Once again, we apologize. Your play was truly amazing”.

“We apologize, Bokuto has a knack of getting into trouble. We enjoyed the play very much”, the other third-years echoed.

"Thank you for your kind words. Sadly, they don’t make up for the fact that you are trespassing on school property during night-time” The teacher’s voice was strict, it didn’t give much room for arguments.

“If you would follow me to my office we can sort this out”.

 

“Takahashi-sensei, I believe it is my fault Bokuto and his friends have strayed in after hours”, a familiar voice floated from the stage, interrupting the exchange and causing Bokuto to swing around.  
  


Akaashi had appeared from the backstage. He was carrying the same case he had with him the night before, which, Bokuto realized, was hiding his violin.

As usual, Akaashi’s face didn’t give away his emotions. He was polite and collected as he addressed his teacher.

 

“Bokuto-san is my volleyball captain. I believe he was worried when I didn’t turn up to practice”, he explained.

   
As the teacher opened her mouth, Akaashi held out his free hand and continued.

“I notified my coach of my absence, but Bokuto-san was not there at that time to hear my explanation. He is a good captain and a friend. He cares for his teammates, and often goes out of his way to make sure they are alright if he hasn’t heard from them in a while.”

  
Bokuto’s eyes were shining, Akaashi had called him a good captain and a friend. Before he knew it, he had ran up to Akaashi and swung the younger boy around in his arms.  
 

“You were brilliant, why didn’t you tell us you play the violin?” he laughed as he hugged his friend.

"Bokuto-san, now is not the time for hugs. Please put me down. You are in trouble at the moment”, Akaashi deadpanned.

“And for future reference, please refrain yourself from hugging when I’m carrying my violin, the instrument is very expensive.”

“Sorry, Akaashi, I’m just so happy you don’t hate me!” the older boy declared, causing Akaashi to stiffen. The setter turned to his senior with a serious look on his face.

“Please tell me you haven’t been thinking about that all day? Like I told you last night, I could never hate you”.

“Yeah, but I.. You basically fled and then you were so tired this morning, I thought I did something to upset you again and then I started overthinking and well, it didn’t end pretty. The guys had to pull me out of my emo-mode and then I had to come see you to make sure you weren’t injured or anything” Bokuto confessed, looking at his feet. He had had a similar conversation with the setter far too many times.

“Injured? Why would you think that?”

“You didn’t show up for practice and I didn’t know why!”

“That’s because you weren’t listening to the coach at the beginning of the practice!” Konoha helpfully supplied from the floor, causing his teammates to laugh.

“Thank you for your concern. I’m fine” Akaashi gave the captain with a fond smile.

“And as for the last night, I should apologize for my behaviour. I should not have fled like that”.

“You didn’t do anything wrong!” Bokuto protested.

“See? Just like you haven’t done anything wrong either. Except when you snuck into a play you weren’t supposed to see yet.”

  
Bokuto could feel his face burn as he listened to his friend’s assurances.

   
“However, I should have told you I had agreed to play in our class’ project. I was worried you might think I valued the violin over volleyball, which is not true. The volleyball team will always be my first priority, even though I haven’t been able to contribute in practices as much as I would’ve liked this week. I apologize.” Akaashi gave a small bow to Bokuto.

  
Akaashi then turned back to the teacher patiently waiting with the rest of the volleyball team.

“Please do not punish them too harshly for their actions. They had good intentions, and they managed not to disturb the performance, which is a miracle in itself.”

_“Hey!”_

“You are usually very loud, don’t you think? Especially Bokuto-san.” The comment silenced the murmurs coming from the team.  
  


Takahashi had followed the previous exchange with care, but now her expression was unreadable.

“I suppose they did not disturb the play… And as Akaashi-kun said, their intentions were good. I suppose for this once I can let you off the hook. But if I find you loitering around school at this hour again, unless it’s in the volleyball gym, the punishment will be more severe.”

“Thank you for your kindness!” The volleyball team bowed deep.

"It won't happen again, we promise"  
  


“Now, it is time for all of you to head home”, Takahashi addressed the whole auditorium. “It is late, and you need to be in top-shape early tomorrow. The first act starts at 9:00, I want you all in by 8:15 to get everything ready on time.”

“Yes!”

 

**xxx**

 

Akaashi followed Bokuto as the captain locked the gym up before heading for the school gates, answering to dozens of questions Bokuto had about his violin.  
  


“Why didn’t you ever tell us you play the violin?”

“It never came up in a conversation.”

“It’s really cool, though, I could never learn to play it, it looks so difficult!”  

“I know you wouldn’t. It takes a lot of patience, even though it’s not as hard as it seems.”

  
Bokuto fell silent. For a moment Akaashi thought he might have gone too far, it was clear that Bokuto had had a rough day and Akaashi’s bluntness certainly didn’t do him any favors at the moment. 

One look at Bokuto’s face proved his worry was misplaced.

The stars were shining in the captain’s eyes as the content smile covered his face.

 

**xxx**

 

“Hey Akaashi, one last question?” Bokuto pleaded as they were bidding their good night’s.

“Yes?”

“Could you play for me sometime?”

“I would like that.”

 

* * *

 

_fin_

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope I didn't go too overboard with Bokuto's reaction. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the fic ^^


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